Four United States senators have asked companies like Apple, Google, and Research in Motion “to remove apps that provide users with information about DUI checkpoints,“ writes PC Mag. An excerpt from that letter, written by Democratic Sens. Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer, Frank Lautenberg, and Mark Udall, reads: "With more than 10,000 Americans dying in drunk-driving crashes every year, providing access to applications that alert users to DUI checkpoints is harmful to public safety.”

These digital tools, the letter claims, “[gives] drunk drivers a free tool to evade checkpoints, putting innocent families and children at risk, [it] is a matter of public concern.”

On his DUI blog, attorney Lawrence Taylor counters that “a number of years ago the Michigan Supreme Court held that DUI roadblocks (aka "sobriety checkpoints) were unconstitutional. Such warrantless stops, the court correctly concluded, were a violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution since American citizens cannot be stopped in their cars without reasonable suspicion to believe that they had committed a crime.”

The United States Supreme Court ultimately reversed the ruling of the state court, acknowledging that these stops did violate citizens’ rights but only minimally. Although Chief Justin Rehnquist did find that ensuring highway safety outweighed these minimal violations, the Supreme Court left it to the states to determine how to minimize these intrusions.

What are your thoughts about DUI checkpoints and using smart phone apps to recognize them? To read the full story, visit PC Mag and Lawrence Taylor’s blog online.

For more information about DUIs in Colorado and Denver, please contact The Orr Law Firm. The Orr Law Firm, L.L.C. is Colorado’s premier DUI defense law firm and focuses exclusively on DUI and criminal traffic defense. Call us today at (720) 279-9588.